New York Rangers: Trading Pavel Buchnevich would be a huge mistake

Pavel Buchnevich is no favorite of New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault. If he doesn’t get the playing time he deserves, another team would happily give it to him. However, trading away Buchnevich, especially for pennies on the dollar, would be a monumental mistake.

Often when a young, yet talented, player struggles talk of a ‘change of scenery’ trade begins to surface. The past few years have seen this type of discussion circle Tyson Barrie, Shayne Gostisbehere, John Klingberg and Anthony Duclair for example. Now, this type of talk has begun to crop up around New York Rangers winger Pavel Buchnevich.

Buchnevich is an undeniably talented forward, he currently sits at third on the team in scoring with 11 goals and 26 points through 43 games this season. With that amount of production, one would expect him to be among the Rangers’ top six forwards. However, Buchnevich only clocks in at seventh on the team in total time on ice per game with 14:41. At 5-on-5, Buchnevich drops to 11th on the team in TOI with 11:24.

For other teams looking from the outside in, this seems like the ideal time to strike. The Rangers have a skilled winger, still on his entry-level contract and the team is in a complete tailspin. This is the perfect storm for a panic trade that could bring back a “solid defensive defenseman” ala Jack Johnson to shore up an abysmal defensive team.

Trading Buchnevich for a Jack Johnson-type would be an unforgivable transgression and that’s not hyperbole. However, trading him for anything less than fair market value would still be a critical error by the Rangers.

Buchnevich’s current impact

As mentioned above, the Russian sophomore winger is third on the team in point scoring. His 11 goals are also good for third on the team (tied with Chris Kreider).

Buchnevich has also been making his mark on the power play. Nine of his points and four goals have been scored on the man advantage, good for fourth and third on the team, respectively.

However, Buchnevich has been on a cold streak lately which has led to frustration with his play. He has only tallied three assists in his last 10 games. The problem with this line of thinking, however, is that every scorer, aside from the top ten or so players in the league, is streaky.

Let’s take a look at some of his teammates’ production over the team’s ten games prior to their victory over the Flyers on Tuesday night:

Mats Zuccarello – Five assists (Nine games)
J.T. Miller – Two goals, one assist
Mika Zibanejad – Three goals
Michael Grabner – Two goals, one assist
Kevin Hayes – Three goals, one assist (Nine games)
Rick Nash – One assist
Ryan McDonagh – One assist (Nine games)
Kevin Shattenkirk – One assist

The Rangers have gone 3-5-2 in those games, two of the wins have come in the shootout and one in overtime (The Winter Classic). Yet none of these players (except Shattenkirk) have seen much if any change in their roles or responsibilities.

So, among a team that is clearly struggling, one of their more talented players has paradoxically been given less opportunity to make a difference. Buchnevich was a healthy scratch on January 7th, against the Vegas Golden Knights. This past weekend, dismal losses against divisional rivals the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins, he played 12:26 and 10:08 5-on-5, respectively.

He has also been separated from his usual linemates Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, the former due to injury and the latter due to lineup decisions. The Rangers need to put Buchnevich in a position to succeed both right now and in the future.

Buchnevich’s future potential

An even bigger reason why the Rangers would be foolish to trade Buchnevich is his sky-high potential. He has already eclipsed his point totals from last season (eight goals, 12 assists in 41 games). At the rate he’s currently scoring, Buchnevich would end the season with a cool 50 points (21 goals, 29 assists).

For context, 21 goals would have landed him tied for 79th in goal scoring last season, alongside some guys like Aleksander Barkov, Patrice Bergeron, Jonathan Drouin and Jonathan Toews. 50 points would have tied him with Joe Thornton and Henrik Sedin last season.

His current 26 points have him tied with Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Johansen (among others).

As he is healthy (fingers crossed) this would be his first full season in the NHL. At only 22 years old, Buchnevich’s best years are still ahead of him.

The Rangers are mostly a young team and Buchnevich should be part of the core that they (re)build around. With incoming talents like Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil likely making the jump to the NHL next season, the Rangers need to surround them with as much skill as they can.

Well, if Gretzky could be traded…

Yes, in this day and age, no player is untouchable. Just ask P.K. Subban and Shea Weber, Taylor Hall or Ryan Johansen and Seth Jones. So, I’m not saying that Buchnevich should never be traded, but the organization can’t afford to panic and trade him away for peanuts.

However if, and that’s a big if, for example, you can trade Buchnevich for a young, impactful defenseman (ideally right shot) then I don’t blame Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton for making such a move. You have to give talent to get talent. However, Gorton should move Buchnevich if and only if they find the right deal for him. The Rangers cannot afford another Derek Stepan trade.

Now that the Rangers have really started showing their true colors again in the last month or so, other players are being discussed more often in trade rumors. This has taken the heat down a little on talk of Buchnevich being on the block but his utilization (or lack thereof) by Vigneault is not going unnoticed by other teams.

Next: Five Rangers with the most trade value

The Rangers are in a state of disarray. Neither the front office nor the players nor the coaching staff seem to have an answer for why the team is consistently being outshot and outworked. When teams are searching for solutions, sometimes they think the answer is a trade. A trade may be that solution for the Rangers, but unloading Pavel Buchnevich because he’s in Vigneault’s doghouse is not.

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